Container for assemblies to be bonded



Jan. 12, 1943. R. l.. BEAsEcKE-R CONTAINER FORl ASSEMBLIES TO BE BONDED Filed Dec. 428, 1940 III."

Sim:

.. Patented Jap. 12, 1943 ,'UNITE IPR 241945 'A common practice of bonding veneer assemblies produce plywood, either in a nat, bent or molded formis to lay an assembly upon a suitable die o r support. of the desired surface con# figuration and cover the assembly with a rubber blanket which must be fastened to the die or support to produce a sealed housing or container for the assembly. The package lthus created is. y

placed in a closed chamber in which is built up the requisite fluid pressure "to accomplish the resuits desired; the pressure being accompanied by heating, where necessary, as, for example, by employing steam to provide both heat and pressure. Difiiculty has eretofore 'been experienced in vmaking the joints between the flexible rubber member and the' steel or other stil! die member suiiiciently 'tight to prevent transfer of fluid beand the surrounding space. The common method of securing tight joints is to lay steel bars on the rubber member, along the margins of the latter, and to apply clamps which, actingon one side against the bars and on thel other side against the under face of the die or support, press 'the rubber. tightly against the die or support.

ol STATES PATIENTvoFFICi-z CONTAINER T0' BE' Raymond'l.. Beasecker, Grand Rapids, Mich. Application neeember 28,1940, serum. 312.065

4 claims. `(c1. 144-281') I I nkely to be disturbedin the ordinaryy handling of the apparatus while putting it into the pressure chamber. Then, when a dierential pressure between the interior and the exterior of the container is brought about, with the greater pressure on the outside, the joint simply becomes tighter and no objectionable leakage through the same in either direction can take place. It is therefore a simple matter to unite the two sections of a container so as toenclose a piece of work, and it is perhaps even a simpler operation to disconnect the two sections from each other. In addition to the advantages heretofore ment oned, there is a further advantage in that the practice by the clamps and clamping bars is en a tween the interior lo! the housing or container This method not only requires the use of clamping' bars 'and numerous clamps, but much timefis consumed in opening and@ closing the work containers, very greatly reducing the amount of work that a single person can do.

The object of the present invention is to pro.-

l duce a simple and lnovel 'container or housing of the aforesaid type whichrequires no clamping bars or lclamps to hold it closedand seal it but seals automatically when lthe iluidv pressure of the surrounding medium is substantially greater amage to the rubber that is done under the old tirely avoided in my new construction.

The various features of novelty wherebymy invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a f ull understanding of my inventionand ofv its-objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with'A the accompanying drawing,` whereinz A Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are respectively-a top plan view, a bottom plan view, anda side view of a container or housing embodying the present invention, the same being shown in its closed condition, and the greater part between the ends thereof havingl been broken away; Fig. '4 is a section on line -4-4 of Fig. 1, but on a larger scale than that of Fig. 1; Figr5 isa section on line 5`5 of Fig. 1, on the same scale as Fig. 4;

. and Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing aA Referring to Figs, '1 to 5, I is a die or work support which is shown as being in the shape of a long, narrow, deep pan having-a wide flange 2 surrounding the same at` the top. The vdepth of the cavity within the member I is about that of a little stack A of veneers which are to be bonded together to produceva piece of plywood almost `as long and as wide as the cavityand of a thickT ness about equal to the depth of the cavity. 'I'his particular shape of die is of no importance, the shape depending entirely upon thefproduct which it is desired to make.

be constructed with afairlydeep endless groove or channel into which the vdie or work-support may be sprung andbe a good fit, so that'the of the rubber immediately adjacent to the groove or channel constituteaaV rim fitted -upon the die Cooperating withthe' die member is a cover 3 a of flexible rubber preformed so that the body portio thereof has substantially the same length and w dth as the die. In addition, `the member'I- Y may `said either to have a thickened marginal orwork support, ajolntjma'y be obtained which is initially sufliciently tight and'which is not portion extending continuously around the same and provided with adeep channelor groove cut into the thickened marginal portion from the inner edge, or to be flanged over so as to provide a deep continuous groove between the flange and` the overlying body portion. At any rate, th'e resulting construction is a flat body member, the marginal portions Iof which have been turned V over on one side to form an endless flange 4 spaced apart from the body portion a distance about equal to the thickness of the flange 2 of the die. Thus there exists between the flange and the body portion of the rubber section of the device a deep groove or channel 5 into which the flanges on the die may be sprung. By properly proportioning the parts, the flanges or marginal portions of the die can be made such a snug fit in the grooves or channels of the cooperating rubber member that the seal is just as satisfactory as is the case where elaborate mechanical clamping devicesare employed.

The container is provided with a suitable vent, indicated more or less conventionally at 6, whereby the interior of the container may be placed in communication with the atmosphere outside of the pressure chamber (not shown), in which the treatment of the work is effected. Furthermore, this vent may be utilized to produce a partial vacuum within the container to bring about a preliminary sealing of the joint.

In Fig. 6 there is illustrated an arrangement in which the die 'l is a fiat plate, whereas the body member 8 of the flexible section of the container is pan-shaped and is provided with a continuous flange 9 extending around the rim of the same. This flange may be like the rubber elements engaging the flange 2 of the die member in the other form, or it may be made considerably thicker than the restA of the rubber member, as shown in Fig. 6, while still containing the deep channel or groove 5 into which th-e marginal portions of the die member fit; and it may be reenforced with fabric Ill, or otherwise.

It will be seen that although in the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 5 the pressure is applied only at the top and to the bottom of the veneer assembly A, the veneer assembly B in Fig. 6 has pressure exerted against it on all sides when the container is subjected to pressure in the pressure chamber. In other words, with this last construction, the walls of the body portion of the rubber section, under external pressure, are pressed into intimate contact, as shown in Fig. 6, not only with the face of the upper ply, but also with the edge faces along the sides and the ends of the plies..

As heretofore stated, the forms of containers or housings illustrated are intended simply for and about a twenty-seven inch vacuum is obtained. Hammer blows are then applied to the rubber blanket to jar the individual layers of veneer into their proper positions. The vent is then closed by means of a suitable valve, not shown, and disconnected from the vacuum line. If the vacuum now does not drop below about fifteen inches, the seal is regarded as a good one. The vent is then connected to the tank line of the vacuum apparatus and the package is inserted in the pressure chamber which is then filled with steam until the desired pressure is attained@ After the pressure against the exterior of the package has been built up, the vent is disconnected from the vacuum line and is placed in communication with atmosphere outside of the pressure tank. Some minutes before the steam is shut off, the vent is again connected to the vacuum line so as to insure against the formation of steam pockets in the space in which the'work is confined and the consequent rupturing of the rubber upon shutting off the steam. The steam is then shut off, the vacuum broken, and the package removed from the .pressure chamber. The container or housing is then opened and the bonded product removed, whereupon it is ready to 'receive another assembly, so that the process just described may be repeated.

Therefore, while I have 'illustrated and described with particularity only two simple forms of an apparatus embodying the present invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described;

i sists in inserting the assembly between a'supporting member and a rubbery cover having a portion extending continuously around the supthe purpose of explaining the principles of my invention, since the structures as a whole and the individualsections may take such shapes as the needs 'of the work to be done requires, just as is truen the previous' practice.

follows. After a package has been completed by laying the assembly on the die and applying the cover, the vent is connected to a vacuum pump porting member and gripping the latter, producing a partial vacuum in the space between the supporting member and the cover, enveloping the package in heated fluid under pressure, venting the aforesaid space to atmosphere, then creating a partial vacuum in said space and, finally, removing the package from the influence of the heated fluid.

2. A two-piece separable container for a piece of work to be subjected to the pressure of a fluid medium surrounding and in contact with the container, which container is to be sealed by said pressure, consisting of a stiff supporting member for the work having a marginal portion extending continuously around the same, and a flexible rubbery cover member of a size to overlie a piece of work on said supporting mem-ber and rest on saidmarginal portion of the latter, said cover member having an inturned wide flange around its periphery defining an opening of smaller dimensions than said supporting member whereby said flange extends inwardly past the edges of said supporting member and overlies and engages said marginal portion when the cover is sprung in place on the supporting member to enclose the work, that portion of the cover forming the marginal portion thereof at the base of the flange being sufficiently thin to enable the pressure of said medium to force the material of the cover firmly against both sides of the marginal portion of the supporting member and to enable removal of said cover member from said supporting member when the pressure is relieved. 3. A two-piece separable container for a piece y of work to be subjected to the pressure of the member'being providedJwith an inturned iiange around its periphery dening an opening of smaller dimensions than said supporting member andy forming a deep, endless groove between said cover member and said flange into which the marginal portions of the supporting member are inserted to eiIect the closing of the container about the work, saidjiange being sulciently exible topermit said supporting member to be inserted in and removed from said cover member, through said opening.

4. A device constituting the cover section of a separable two-section container for-a piece of work to be subjected to the pressure of a fluid surrounding the container, consisting of a exible rubbery member provided with a marginal portion .formed of two layers of rubbery material joined at their outer edges to form a deep continuous groove, theinner edges oi one. of said layers defining an opening through which the cooperating section is inserted to dispose its edges in said groove and through which saidcooperating section can be removed, said marginal portion being thin enough to yield under the.

aforesaid pressure and cause said layers on opposite sides of the groove to be pressed into sealing engagement with the edges of said cooperating section.

RAYMOND L. BEASECKER. 

